AFL star speaks out after death blunder

AFL star Michael Porter has spoken up about being “killed off” by the AFL when his picture was mistakenly used in the Australian Hall of Fame memorial tribute.

The 79-year-old premiership player was subject to an incorrect death notice during the annual Hall of Fame dinner on Tuesday.

Collingwood star Dan Swan was inducted into the AFL’s Hall of Fame, with Hawthorn’s Jason Dunstall elevated to Legend status during the ceremony.

During the night’s “In Memoriam” segment, which the sporting body plays to pay tribute to figures in the sport who have died within the past year, an unfortunate accident occurred.

Porter, also known as “Portholes”, who had played 78 games for Hawthorn and won a flag in 1971, appeared in the segment.

But the former sports star is alive and well, saying he only discovered the blunder when former teammates called him.

“I found out when a friend rang me and said ‘thank god’. It was a bloke called John Fisher who I played football with at Hawthorn,” Mr Porter said from his home in the Sydney suburb of Greenwich.

“’What do you mean?’ I said and he said ‘apparently you’re dead. It’s been on the Hall of Fame. Did you see it?’ and I said ‘no I didn’t’. And then all of a sudden, I’ve got other phone calls from other ex-teammates … and then I started getting phone calls left right and center.”

He acknowledged it was an “honest” mistake, and said he wasn’t too fazed by it.

But Porter said his wife was “upset” by what had happened.

“She was more devastated than I was. I haven’t spoken to my kids about it yet,” he admitted.

“In hindsight now I sort of think ‘oh, bit of a bad mistake.’”

But what Porter was truly annoyed about was the fact that no one from the AFL had chosen to reach out to him, despite the AFL putting out a statement saying otherwise.

“I read today that the AFL said that they had actually spoken to me and they haven’t,” Porter said.

“They made a mistake and then they’re saying ‘oh we’ve contacted him. He understands’ but they haven’t contacted me.”

In a statement released earlier, an AFL spokesperson said they had reached out to Porter to apologize for the mistake.

“Once this innocent mistake was realized we moved quickly to ring and apologize to everyone affected, including Michael, and we thank him for his understanding,” the statement said.

Despite all this, Porter has assured family and friends he’s “alive and I’m well”.

“It’s all over really. I’m alive and I’m well. Had 43 turns at golf today. Can’t do much better than that,” he said.